CHAMPAGNE D'ARGENT

Varieites:Standard

Showroom Classification:
Shown as a 6 class breed.

Background:
The "Champagne," at one time called the "French Silver," is one of the oldest breeds of rabbits and is known to have been raised in France for well over a hundred years. It was regarded as a common breed of little significance although its pelt has always commanded high prices, special markets being held periodically to which fur buyers came from other countries to purchase large quantities of what were known to the fur trade as "Millers."
Champagne does not refer to the color, as some people have imagined, but is the name of the province in which this breed has been raised in large numbers and in which it is said to have originated. Argent is the French word for silver, and Champagne D'Argent or, as the French write it, "Argente de Champagne," means the "Silver Rabbit from Champagne."

General Description:
Body moderate length, well developed hindquarters, shoulders and back. Not mandolin type. The color should have no suggestion of champagne-any tinge or yellow is a gross defect. Old silver, or the color of skimmed milk, with no trace of yellow tinge is the color desired. The French standard demands that it be "the color of an old piece of silver." This does not mean, however, tarnished or brassy silver; the intention is to indicate the smooth, velvety surface of worn silver, as contrasted with the hard, glittering appearance of a new coin. The young are born solid black and gradually attain the silver color over the entire animal from four months of age onward. This sometimes varies with the strain.